Putting the Juice at the Use

Petra Solar designs and manufactures the first smart grid interactive solar electric system specifically designed for installation on utility distribution poles, Utility Grade SunWave™ UP Series. The systems, which operate as individual power generation stations, combine solar power, smart grid and power management technologies to enable utilities to improve power quality and grid management. Petra Solar’s systems operate on streetlight and utility poles, connecting directly to the grid’s secondary voltage lines at the pole.

Last July the N.J. Board of Public Utilities approved a contract between Petra Solar and New Jersey’s largest utility, PSE&G, to generate 40MW of power through SunWave solar systems installed on up to 200,000 poles in New Jersey. The intelligent photovoltaic solar units are currently being installed throughout the state’s six largest cities and 300 suburban communities and will be running on the AT&T wireless network. For more information see Petra Solar.

Mobile phone users probably don’t know it, but a charger left plugged into a wall wastes electricity – enough to power 24,000 homes for a year, or brew three to four million cups of coffee each day. The new AT&T ZERO Charger, available in May, does not waste power when left plugged in, and also improves charging efficiency when powering a device.

The AT&T ZERO Charger will also make life easier for customers, with a ‘block and cable’ design for maximum interchangeability, allowing them to use the same charger for future handsets and will, over time, cut the number of chargers produced, thus reducing future landfill waste.

The  charger works by automatically sensing when a mobile phone is not plugged in to the charger thus cutting the power supply from the wall socket. The charger will be sold in packaging using 100% recycled paper as AT&T recently announced a transition to smaller and more eco-friendly packaging for the wireless device accessories sold in their stores. The change will eliminate more than 60 percent of the paper and more than 30 percent of the plastic previously used for their products. A big GREEN thumbs up for doing this!

The ZERO charger will be available starting in May at AT&T retail locations nationwide or at www.wireless.att.com. For more information on the ZERO charger, visit www.att.com/ZERO.